Friday, March 31, 2017

This spring: Introductory to Advanced Creative Writing classes, plus Writing Personal Stories and Writing Kid Lit

Welcome to Creative Writing
8 weeks of discovering your creative side
Monday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m.
 April 17 – June 19
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (map here.)
This is your chance to take up writing in a warm, supportive environment. This course will open the door to all kinds of creative writing. We’ll visit short story writing and children’s writing, writing in first person and in third person, and writing just for fun. You’ll get a shot of inspiration every week and an assignment to keep you going till the next class. Best of all, this class will provide a zero-pressure, totally safe setting, where your words will grow and flower.
Note: For a pair of reviews of Brian’s introductory creative writing classes, see here, and see other reviews here.
Fee:  $159.29 plus 13% hst = 180
Number of attendees strictly limited.
To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Writing Personal Stories
8 weeks of sharing and writing
Thursday afternoons, 12:45 – 2:45 p.m.
April 27 – June 15, 2017
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (map here.)
If you've ever considered writing your personal stories, this course is for you. We’ll look at memoirs, travel writing, personal essays, family history ~ personal stories of all kinds. Plus, of course, we’ll work on creativity and writing technique and have fun doing it. Whether you want to write a book or just get your thoughts down on paper, this weekly course will get you going. 
We'll reveal the tricks and conventions of telling true stories, and we’ll show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Weekly writing exercises and friendly feedback from the instructor will help you move forward on this writing adventure. Whether you want to write for your family and friends or for a wider public, don't miss this course.
Read reviews of the Writing Personal Stories course here, and see other reviews here.
Fee:  $159.29 plus 13% hst = 180
Number of attendees strictly limited.
To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Writing Kid Lit ~ Picture Books to YA
Monday afternoons, 12:45 – 2:45 p.m. Mississauga
April 10 – June 19
Unity Church, Unit 8, 3075 Ridgeway Drive, Mississauga, Ontario (Map here.)
From picture books to young adult novels, this weekly course is accessible for beginners and meaty enough for advanced writers. Through lectures, in-class assignments, homework, and feedback on your writing, we’ll give you ins and outs of writing for younger readers and set you on course toward writing your own books. 
We’ll have two published children’s authors as guest speakers:
Sylvia McNicoll is the author of over thirty books, many of which have garnered awards. Her YA novel Crush.candy.corpse was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis YA Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Red Maple Award, the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, and the Snow Willow Award, as well as being selected as one of the Ontario Library Association's Best Bets and Resource Links' Year's Best for 2012. 
Most acclaimed, though, are her three middle grade books about fostering guide dogs: Bringing
 Up Beauty, Beauty Returns, and A Different Kind of Beauty which won and were nominated for many children’s choice awards.
In 2017, Sylvia launches her new middle grade series The Great Mistake Mysteries beginning with The Best Mistake Mystery in January and The Artsy Mistake Mystery in September and finishing with The Snake Mystery in January 2018.
Kira Vermond is an award-winning writer with over 1,500 articles to her name. She has been a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, CBC and Today's Parent.
Kira is the author of four nonfiction books for young readers: Half-Truths and Brazen Lies, (just nominated for a 2017 Ontario Library Association (OLA) Silver Birch Award – read more about Half-Truths here); Why We Live Where We Live (more here);Growing Up: Inside and Out, (nominated for on OLA Forest of Reading Award), and The Secret Life of Money: A Kid's Guide to Cash (which was my son’s and daughter’s favourite book  the year it came out, although my kids are four years apart).
Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.  
Course fee:  $176.11 plus 13% hst = 199
To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Intermediate Creative Writing
Ten weeks towards mastering your craft
Thursday evenings, 6:45 – 9:00 p.m.
April 13 – June 15
St. Alban's Church, 537 Main Street, Georgetown, Ontario (in the village of Glen Williams – Map here.)
This course isn't for beginners; it's for people who have been writing for a while or who have done a class or two before and are working on their own projects. Over the length of the course, you’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.
Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures at the start of class, addressing the needs of the group, and in addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is a supportive group and a rewarding class.
Read reviews of Brian’s intermediate courses here, and see other reviews here.
Number of attendees strictly limited.
Fee: $184.96 plus hst = 209.  
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Intensive Creative Writing
Ten weeks toward mastering your craft
Tuesday afternoons, 12:30 – 2:45 p.m.
April 11 – June 13
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)
This course will give you the chance to work on your writing in an intimate group of fellow writers. It isn't for beginnersit's for people who have been writing for a while or who have done a course or two before and are working on their own projects. You’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.  In addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write.
Read a review of the Intensive course here. See other reviews here. 
Fee: $184.96 plus hst = 209.  
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

New: The Condensed Intensive
8 weeks toward mastering your craft
Wednesday evenings, 6:45 – 9:00 p.m.
April 12 – May 31
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)
This course will give you the chance to work on your writing with a small group of fellow writers. (No more than 8 or 9 participants; as of March 31, we have 5.) The course isn't for beginnersit's for people who have been writing for a while or who have done a course or two before and are working on their own projects. You’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.  In addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write.
Read a review of the Intensive course here. See other reviews here. 
Fee: $184.96 plus hst = 209.  
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Extreme Creative Writing
12 special weeks with a group of special writers
Wednesday afternoons, 12:15 – 2:45 p.m.
April 5 – June 21
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.

Now full - waiting list only
The Extreme course is for experienced writers; people who have been working on their craft for a while, who have some experience in the art of giving truly helpful critiques, and who are working on their own projects. During course, you’ll be asked to bring in six pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.  In addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write.
Fee:  $193.81 plus 13% hst = 219 
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada's most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. Brian is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing). But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published. 
Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

1 comment:

  1. There are so many classes offered these days. Everyone has something to choose from.

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